Freudian Slips
by Ellie101
Summary: When the mind refuses to bend around something, sometimes it finds other ways to make itself known. Draco Hermione All of that we seem, is but a dream within a dream. Edgar Allan Poe


Freudian Slips

By Ellie

**Freudian Slip: **A verbal mistake that is thought to reveal an unconscious belief, thought, or emotion.

Hermione knew she was dreaming. Surely the mouth belonging to one of the few people she actually hated couldn't cause the delightful torment that it was. She knew that any moment now she would wake up screaming… So why deny herself? This was, after all, a dream-- she could rant about how horrific it was to be snogging Malfoy once she was properly awake. Because for now, all she wanted to do was enjoy the tingly feelings coursing through her body.

She murmured appreciatively as those lips of his pulled slowly away from her own after lingering there for as long as possible. Then, finally, they were apart and Hermione's legs no longer had any motive to continue holding her up.

She would have crumpled to the floor if it weren't for his pale arms plucking her mid-fall. Somewhat dazed, Hermione lightly traced the muscles holding her upright with her fingertips. He hissed softly and pulled her mouth back up to meet his. This time his kisses didn't produce tingles so much as they did rampaging fires beneath her skin…

It was terrifying that the heated thoughts invading Hermione's addled brain were being induced by a boy that she knew full well abhorred her very existence. Should she let herself be embraced by his likeness even in dream? Did ethics really apply in this sort of situation? Dear GOD- how would she face him in the morning!

It was that thought, above all others, that goaded Hermione into action. Stumbling away on her greatly weakened legs, she backed away from him and into a wall. Throwing her arms forward in the universal position to ward someone off, Hermione blinked past the furious beats of her heart and tried to calm her gasping breaths.

"I was enjoying myself you know…" His voice was faintly chiding… Almost amused, in a condescending way. Apparently the only thing that her "Dream Draco" didn't correctly mirror from the real one was his choice of kissing partner.

He was walking towards her in a slow assured gait that told her without words that he expected to reach her soon and that he knew she'd be waiting for him until he did. Hermione snorted internally before she ran as far and fast away from him as she could.

Which wasn't far unfortunately… Every time she approached a door it would disappear as she reached for the doorknob.

Infuriated, she turned towards Draco to scream at him when she noticed his gaze on the doorway that she had just attempted to escape out of, obvious puzzlement gracing his patrician features. He didn't know what was going on either.

That comforted the analytical part of her that had risen to the surface the moment the doorways had started to disappear. It held absolutely no comfort to the part of her fighting to get away from Malfoy's likeness. It was that desperate part of herself that urged her to escape... No matter what the cost.

The doorway began shimmering blue, then green. Malfoy strode quickly to Hermione and pulled her away from the sparking door and she couldn't help but feel incredibly protected in his arms.

His voice was tense when he demanded, "What the bloody hell is that?"

Hermione's own voice wavered uneasily, "I have absolutely no idea." After several moments of agonized debating she nuzzled her nose into the strong curve of his neck. "At least we know that it can't hurt us."

He chuckled deeply and brushed a strand of her curly hair away from her cheek. Her hands grasped his and she pulled it up against her face before kissing each knuckle softly. Why fight the urge- it's not like he could tell anyone…

His voice was even deeper when he asked, "How do you know that?"

Her eyes zoomed in on a tiny scar on the knuckle of his pinky finger. His body was still tense; he was wary of the glowing door and its swirl of bright colors. Hermione laughed- Draco Malfoy: Protector of the Weak. A smile curved on her lips before she could stop it. She was being ridiculous, but she couldn't help it. It had been so long since a boy had held her so tenderly that she couldn't resist taking in the comfort he offered.

It was some time before she finally answered his question, "Dream magic can't be used to harm. If it could, Voldemort would be using it to his full advantage."

Draco stiffened when she spoke the Dark Lord's name and his arms clutched her convulsively. "Dream magic?"

Hermione pulled away with great difficulty, ending with his hands gripping her shoulders almost painfully. "I don't know if it's the result of dream magic or not, but I know that I'm dreaming, so either way I have my bases covered. No one can harm anyone in dreams- at the most they can only trap someone's consciousness-" She paused thoughtfully before adding, "…but Hogwarts protects us from those types of spells."

He was smirking now. That damnable Malfoy smirk that had, until that moment, only made Hermione want to hex it off of him. Sadly, now she found it terribly sexy.

"You certainly act like the damn Mudblood, but you're startlingly misinformed even for her…"

Hermione opened her mouth in abrupt anger while he continued, "This is **my** dream. You're just along for the ride."

_Of all the ridiculous- _"Look here Malfoy, it's not possible for this to be YOUR dream… because I'm perfectly self-aware and I know that this is MY dream."

They were both so firmly entrenched in their discussions that the door managed to turn a violent purple without their notice. It could have probably blown up in a smoldering cascade of fireballs and neither Draco nor Hermione would ever have been the wiser.

He was rolling his eyes. Hermione was fighting to stop herself from clawing them out of his annoying face.

"Like the REAL Hermione would have let me snog her senseless…" A flash of heat to light his silvery eyes distracted her from what he was saying for a moment. After it had sunk in she was sputtering, "Like the REAL Malfoy would have kissed me in the first place!"

He pulled completely away from her then and took in her reddened cheeks, fisted hands and furious eyes. "You look exactly like she does when she's angry. Beautiful…" He began toying with one of her haphazard auburn curls. "But a Mudblood nonetheless."

His voice was calm and matter of fact, but it was also laced with the tiniest bit of regret… Or was that just wistful thinking? It was impossible to tell- his face was once more encased in its customary icy detachment. His eyes, however, blazed with a dark light that seemed to draw Hermione forward against her will.

She found herself leaning into those elegant hands and losing hold of the anger that had overtaken her. Losing it in a riot of tumbling emotion that she couldn't even begin to dissect. She was lost in the gray of his eyes, in the strength of the lips he was pressing to hers. Why did something wrong feel so unbearably right? How could the same boy in one breath call her beautiful only to gravely insult her in the next?

"Why are you doing this to me Malfoy?" She asked desperately once she had pulled away. Frustrated tears threatened to spill from her eyes.

Malfoy laughed bitterly. "You represent everything about the world that I'm supposed to destroy… You're a Mudblood and Potter's friend. Yet lately all I've wanted to do when we pass in the hall is pull you into an empty room! If my father were to find out that not only do I have some strange fixation on you, but also that I dream of you constantly he'll **beat** it out of me. And you're sitting there with your doe eyes asking me why I'M doing this to YOU? That's rich."

Hermione's eyes had done a great many things during Draco's little soliloquy: they had grown wide in astonishment, then perplexed, misty, utterly confused, and then so narrowed in anger that Draco actually took a tiny step back.

Maybe he was remembering how she had slapped him- maybe something about the look in her eyes had caused the reaction… Hermione really didn't care. She did know one thing though: one step wasn't bloody far enough to keep him safe.

Her voice emerged, deadly calm… each word staccato and piercingly low. "You… Imbecile… You kiss ME. You insult ME. You act completely sweet to me one moment and then like an utter ass the next… Yet, somehow it's ME who's done this to you all along!"

Draco's smile faltered as he noted that her usually warm brown gaze had turned a fiery scotch color. She was beside herself with anger, and for the first time ever, Draco took her wrath seriously.

"That's not what I meant. It's just that, you're wrong for me in every single way that I've ever been taught to count. But I can't bring myself to care. It's like falling of a sodding cliff: I'm just zipping along watching the ground rush up to meet me."

Those singeing eyes cooled, "We aren't friends." Her voice was firm, it was a statement of fact that could not be argued with.

His face scrunched up in a pained expression of utter mockery, "The day we're friends is the day that I join the masses of Scarhead worshipers and dedicate myself to saving fluffy bunnies everywhere."

Hermione's mouth quirked in a wry smile. She held out her hand solemnly, "Then we're agreed."

As their fingers clasped the door fame began to glow red and opened itself... Eyes locked, brown on gray, sliver on bronze.

She continued, "We aren't friends, but I'm dreaming of you and you said that you dream of me. What do we do about that?"

Draco's lips drifted to graze lightly upon her own, illiciting a deep throbbing sensation at all of the points where their skin touched. "I guess we enjoy it."

The door blazoned out and encircled the pair with it's light.

And two teenagers awoke in separate beds, in separate wings of Hogwarts, but both touched startled fingers to their lips as their hearts raced as one in the darkness.

* * *

"Granger are you EVER going to walk through that bloody door?" Draco demanded after a grueling morning of double potions. Hermione was standing in front of the doorway trying to cram one too many books into her already packed bag.

She snorted, "Why would I want to!" It was a poor retort and they both knew it. But she immediately moved out of the way and he walked past without another word, as sudden tension strained between them as similar memories awakened...

Doorknobs fading into nothing and two people lost in each other night after night, until a haze of red light pulled them from each others arms.

**--Fin**

**A/N) **

This is a finished one-shot. **FINISHED**.

**So as much as I appreciate reviews, PLEASE do NOT leave a review only to inquire upon more of this story. Just be satisfied with what is... **


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